MONTGOMERY COUNTY

Guilty Plea Is Expected in Teen Weapons Case

A Montgomery County teen is set to plead guilty today in a case that captured national attention last summer after authorities said they had searched the home of his friend and found firearms, explosives and a map of Camp David marked with a presidential motorcade route.

Patrick S. Yevsukov, 17, who had been charged as an adult, will plead guilty to two counts of manufacture or possession of a destructive device, one count of unauthorized access to a computer and one count of theft of less than $100, according to Montgomery Circuit Court records. Court guidelines suggest a sentence ranging from probation to four years in prison.

A senior in high school, Yevsukov has a 4.1 grade-point average this year, and he wants to move on to college, said Rene Sandler, his attorney.

"He never intended to hurt anybody," Sandler said yesterday.

In July, Yevsukov's aunt alerted authorities to what she felt was suspicious behavior by him and his friend Collin McKenzie-Gude, who was 18 at the time. Investigators searched McKenzie-Gude's bedroom in Bethesda, where they say they found military-style rifles, two shotguns, various chemicals, switches, pipes and other materials capable of being used to make bombs.

McKenzie-Gude's attorney, Steven Kupferberg, also said that his client never intended to hurt anyone and that investigators have blown the case out of proportion. "He is not the Machiavellian person that they've made him out to be," Kupferberg said yesterday.

McKenzie-Gude remains in the Montgomery County jail, and faces federal charges linked to what authorities say were efforts to build pipe bombs and make fake federal IDs.

As for Yevsukov, Montgomery County police have said he worked at one of their district stations and stole department letterhead paper, which was to be used to obtain products restricted to law enforcement officers. It is unclear whether he is cooperating with federal investigators.